Tuesday, February 21, 2012

The Groovy Golden Age Batman

A bit of explanation is necessary. While going through a pile of old childhood artwork, I found this bizarre drawing I did of "The Golden Age Batman." I'm not sure how old I was, probably around 8 or so (just a guess), old enough to know of the concept of The Golden Age of Comics, but not at all aware of what 1940s design looked like. Because this groovy Batman costume is something better suited for a 1970s Blaxploitation film than anything caped crusader-related. Those name-checked bell bottoms!!! Man oh man... I had to re-draw this thing.

I originally just re-drew it in the same pose, but it wasn't enough. So I did a cover re-creation of a real Golden Age BATMAN comic, issue 42 from 1947, pitting the Dynamic Duo against the Catwoman. It was an opportunity to try to match the bizarre amalgam of my incorrectly perceived Golden Age esthetic with the obvious Me-Decade era in which I was living. I put Robin in a macramé sweater, a giant collar and 70s gym clothes from the waist down.

Catwoman, meanwhile, is wearing Farrah Fawcett-Majors' red swimsuit (augmented with her name, in case people got confused) and hair, with denim cutoffs, gloves and tail. She's also clunking around in huge gladiator wedgies.

For the logo, I adapted one that I drew on the back of the original drawing. To augment the 40s/70s amalgamation, I combined elements from comic books of those different eras for the details on the cover such as the DC logo, price and Comics Code stamp. Heck, nothing about this makes sense, so why not.

And I couldn't help but add a cape to Batman's costume. It just didn't look right without it. Maybe in my original drawing, it was just at the cleaner's or something. The sad thing is, as much as I tried, I just couldn't match the sheer craziness of this old childhood drawing. There's something to be said for the unbridled imagination of youth. But, hey, I gave it a shot.

This is Me

Bitten by a radioactive silverfish at the age of five, Karl Heitmueller Jr. (aka Kalli, aka Pops Gustav) gained the power of pop culture hyper-perception.
Now as an adult, he writes, draws and cartoons about comics, movies, television, music, Superman, advertising, design, politics, religion, drinking and jerks.
Sometimes all at once.